LaBrae upsets Falls in Division III final

By Chuck Housteau

HOWLAND — It only seemed fitting that the game’s smallest player, 5-foot-6 freshman Matt Szarody of LaBrae, grabbed the final rebound and held on as the final seconds clicked away in the Division III championship game at Howland.

Szarody came up big for the Vikings in the fourth quarter as LaBrae pulled away, then knocked down 14-of-16 free throws in the final quarter to upset top-seeded Newton Falls 52-45, on Friday night.

LaBrae (15-8) advanced to face Cleveland Central Catholic (21-3) in the regional tournament at Canton on March 18 at 6:15 p.m. The Vikings last played in the regional in 2005.

Szarody scored nine of his game-high 14 points in the final quarter to lead LaBrae to the win its All-American Conference Blue Tier rival.

LaBrae won the game at the free throw line, led by the team’s youngest player.

“Matt is our best free throw shooter. You wouldn’t think he is a freshman,” said LaBrae coach Chad Kisler. “Matt’s a special kid. He’s going to be good for us for a long time.

“I don’t know if he’s not smart enough to know that he is supposed to be nervous or if he is that good,” said Kisler. “He’s really is that good and confident that he can do whatever you ask him to do.”

Szarody’s confidence seemed contagious as the Vikings came out feeling like they could play with Newton Falls and win a championship.

“The first two games we didn’t know how we would match up with [Newton Falls],” said Szarody, whose team lost to the Blue Tier co-champions twice in the regular season. “But we knew tonight that we could come in and play with them and that we could win.

Szarody said that he wasn’t nervous when he stepped to the free-throw line with the game on the line.

“We practice free throws all the time,” Szarody said. “I knew it was my job to step up and knock down those free throws.”

The contest featured four ties and six lead changes.

The game was last tied at 32 when LaBrae’s Steve Woodyard made a free throw with 7:19 left in the game.

The Vikings who had to battle against Newton Falls’ 6-foot-10 senior center Marcus Fowler and a host of talented 3-point shooters, began to take control of the game after that.

LaBrae went on a 7-0 run on a 3-point basket by Szarody, a field goal by Jacob Jaros (who finished with 12 points off the bench) and two free throws by Szarody.

Newton Falls (21-3) cut the lead three times to three points in the final 1:40 of the game, but LaBrae continued to make free throws.

“It was extremely obvious that we didn’t make shots,” said Newton Falls coach Roy Sembach. “We happened to miss the shots on the inside, we happened to miss wide open shots on the outside and we even missed shots from the foul line.

“We wouldn’t even have to shoot a decent shooting percent tonight [to win]. We just didn’t have to shoot something abysmal.”

The Tigers shot just 32 percent from the field and where just 6-of-21 on 3-pointers.

Senior Marcus Fowler led Newton Falls with 11 points and nine rebounds. Brian Sole also tallied 11 points while Todd Medallis added 10.

“This feels sweet,” said Kiser. “We knew that nobody outside of our locker room gave us much of a chance.

“Tonight we executed our game plan and I don’t think we missed a foul shot down the stretch when it counted.”